Humanitarian Governance

Even asylum interviews are no longer being conducted
Severe deficiencies in interpretation services over recent months have affected both refugee camps in Greece and the Greek Asylum Service. These gaps now hinder the state’s ability to provide essential services.

On Friday, November 1, 2024, the Single-Member Misdemeanor Court of Mytilene issued a verdict on the events of March 1, 2020, at the port of Thermi on the island of Lesvos, concerning the attack on German photojournalist Michael Trammer and the racially motivated acts of violence against newly arrived refugees.

On Friday 4 October 2024 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in line with the Advocate’s General Opinion, ruled that Member States cannot issue a decision rejecting an asylum application as inadmissible on the basis of the concept of a “safe third country” in cases where they have established that the asylum seeker will not be allowed to enter the territory of a country designated as safe.

Asylum seekers in Greece have once again been denied their legal right to dignified living conditions after months of delay in payments of cash assistance, leaving people without an income and unable to meet their basic needs. Beneficiaries of the cash assistance program have been informed via text message that delays are occurring. However, there has been no public announcement from the Ministry of Migration and Asylum regarding the cause of the delays or how long they will last, leaving people in the dark about when to expect payments to resume.

This report draws on information inter alia provided by the Directorate of the Hellenic Police and the General Secretariat for Vulnerable Persons and Institutional Protection (GSVP) of the Ministry on Migration and Asylum, national and international jurisprudence, reports by international, European and national human rights bodies and institutions, international and non-governmental organisations, publicly available data, media information as well as GCR’s observations from practice and information provided by the GCR Legal and Social Unit.